On Friday the Amity community mourned the loss of its 2010 Athlete of the Year.

"I've seen Joe escape death multiple times," said Anthony Aprile, a teammate on both the Amity hockey and baseball teams with Ciancola. "We were driving to high school graduation and a tree fell down in the road. It should have fallen on his car, but he swerved out of the way. He seemed invincible, untouchable ... that nothing could bring him down. For something as freaky as this to happen to him, it's unbelievable."

Aprile, along with another former Ciancola teammate, Kurt Wehr, were at UConn in Storrs, when they heard the news that he had been stricken and rushed to visit him in the hospital in Providence, R.I., on Tuesday.

"It would be 10 on a Saturday, nobody else would be awake and he'd call me up to play pond hockey," Wehr said. "He loved being outside, he was always on the move."

Both Aprile and Wehr said they'll remember Ciancola for his positive energy.

"I've never met anyone that ever had anything negative to say about him," Aprile said. "When you meet him, you immediately fall in love with him. He's always got something positive to say. He was a kid who was never really down. Even when things were going rough. ... A lot of tough stuff happened to him, but he never felt sorry for himself. He was always looking for the brighter stuff."

By Friday afternoon Ciancola's Facebook page was filled with remembrances. URI had also set up a tribute page, which had filled up with responses from across the country.

Wehr said that moving forward in the face of tragedy would be how Ciancola would want it.

"He'd want us to move forward and keep living, Wehr said. "He was just a bull, a pure winner, probably one of the best people I ever knew. It'll be lonely without him."

Amity hockey coach Gary Lindgren visited with Ciancola in the hospital on Wednesday and spent time with his family.

"Joe was one of those special kids who comes into people's life and made life better for everybody that knew him," he said. "He could light up a room."